Charleston, SC to Tortolla, BVI

We finally departed Charleston, SC for the Caribbean on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011. The Parkers, Lauther and Priscilla, were there to see us off. Bill Loring who has done the Caribbean 1500 twice was helpful as crew for us. We did three hour watches around the clock.

The wind was out of the SW and very light so we motor sailed for the first 28 hours. Then the wind picked up to the teens and 20's. Lots of waves were crashing across our bow. A cold front was chasing us across the Atlantic and finally caught up with us on Tuesday making the seas very confused with waves breaking in more than one direction. we were all tired and quite beat up due to the heeling of 20-30%. After talking to Commander Weather Service, we decided to heave to in order to rest and to let the cold front pass us. We still were making about 3 knots in the right direction even during heaving to. About 7 1/2 hours later we continued our trip. Now the waves were not confused and the wind was from the NE. We did have rain most of the night but it was not turbulent. These NE winds pushed us all the was to Totolla. Eventually they became the Trade winds. We actually only used the motor for about 53 hours during the whole 9 days. Early Monday morning, March 7, 2011 we could see the mountains of the BVI in the distance. We were at the Customs dock in Soper's Hole by 1300 hours. After checking in , we proceeded back to Nanny Cay Marina. We had a late lunch at the Beach Bar. I celebrated with my first "Pain Killer" of the season.

The picture is of a sunrise in the Atlantic Ocean during passage.